Bruckner was born in Hollywood, California, to a Hungarian father and a Russian mother who have since divorced; her paternal grandfather was German.Her parents met in Hungary and immigrated to the U.S. in 1984 through a refugee camp in Italy. She has two sisters and a brother.
Bruckner speaks some Russian and is fluent in Hungarian, having grown up speaking the language.She has been involved in dance, ballet, and tap since the age of five and initially wanted to pursue a career as a dancer. At th